THE K-3 FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM:

AN OVERVIEW OF A GROUNDBREAKING NEW EARLY LEARNING PROJECT

With support from a $6.1 million Enhanced Assessment Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, North Dakota has
joined nine other states and three nationally recognized research partners in a consortium to enhance a state-of-the-art
system for assessing young childrens learning. North Carolina, the lead state for the Consortium, is developing a K-3
formative assessment that includes a KEA. The K-3 assessment process will begin at
kindergarten entry (KEA), generating a Child Profile of childrens learning and
Consortium Partners
development, and continue through third grade, making information available to both
States
teachers and students that will be used to inform teaching and learning. Through this
project, the Consortium will provide teachers, parents, students, policymakers and others
North Carolina (lead)
who care about education in the critical early years a user-friendly, effective resource for
Arizona
generating clear information on where children are in their learning and where they need
Delaware
to go next. In order to realize this goal, the consortium is designing an assessment process
District of Columbia
with the following essential features:
Iowa
Formative in nature that is, rather than being used only to sum up what
Maine
children already have and have not achieved, the assessment results will guide
North Dakota
instruction and give teachers and students a meaningful tool for adjusting
Oregon
teaching and learning to help schools meet the states educational standards.
Rhode Island
Stand-alone KEAs, which provide summary snapshots of childrens functioning at
South Carolina
one moment in time, are not designed to inform instruction going forward into
the kindergarten year; the Consortium approach of embedding a KEA in a
Research
formative assessment process that extends to third grade will help to ensure
Organizations
that all assessment information, including KEA results, will be viewed as
BUILD
actionable data information that teachers and students can put to practical
Child Trends
use in their classrooms and that families can use to support learning at home.
SRI
Defines learning holistically. The assessments will address five key domains of
childrens educational development. Consistent with this broad coverage, the
assessment will draw on many different kinds of evidence (for example,
observations, conversations, work samples, and tasks) from many different
sources to shed light on students learning progress.
Accounts for childrens diverse learning styles. The assessment
will
be
enhanced using a framework that integrates Evidence Centered
FIVE DOMAINS OF
Design (ECD), a well-researched and highly regarded approach to
LEARNING
assessment development, and principles of Universal Design for Learning
(UDL). Integrating ECD and UDL helps meet the challenge of assessing all
1. physical well-being and
children by suggesting flexible materials, techniques, and strategies for
motor development;
assessment so that the assessment is appropriate, relevant and useful for
2. social and emotional
all children, including children with disabilities and English Language
development;
Learners.
3. approaches toward
Useful for multiple, complementary purposes. The information
learning;
gathered at kindergarten entry, which generates the Child Profile, will be
4. language and literacy
expanded on throughout kindergarten through third grade. These data
can help inform multiple audiences: teachers and students to shape
development; and
instruction and learning, families to support childrens learning and
5. cognitive development and
development, and coaches and principals to identify needs for
general knowledge.
professional development and curricular changes. Data from the Child
Profile will also be incorporated into the overall longitudinal data system
that each Consortium state maintains, and state and school district
leaders will be able to analyze the aggregate data to help shape decisions
about the allocation of educational resources and about what kinds of professional development to offer
teachers.
Teacher friendly. The system will use smart technologies innovative technological solutions to help collect,
analyze, interpret, score, and access data. Not only will these technologies reduce burdens on teachers who are
asked to provide information to be used in the assessments, but even more important, the technologies will

make it easier for teachers to draw on assessment information to inform their practice. To ensure teachers are
supported in using the assessment, the Consortium will develop professional development materials and each
Consortium state will develop an implementation plan detailing how they will support the on-going successful use
of the assessment.
Family and student friendly. In recognition of families unique knowledge of their own children and how they are
developing, the K-3 assessment will provide opportunities for families to contribute to the assessment process,
which will strengthen teachers understanding of the children in their classroom. In addition, information
gathered through the assessment process will be shared with families in a clear and concise manner so that
families have a firmer grasp of ways in which they can support their childrens development and learning.
Reflects a widely shared, common understanding of educational standards and of how best to measure
progress on those standards. Consortium states have agreed to adopt a core set of common, essential early
learning standards which the KEA will assess. These states are also committed to developing an assessment
process that is aligned with the Common Core State Standards, which all of the member states, including [insert
state that is sponsoring this fact sheet], have now adopted.
Builds on existing state work to develop KEAs and other educational assessments. North Carolina, the lead
state for the Consortium, has developed a K-3 formative assessment that includes a KEA. As Consortium states
work to design their common assessment system, they are viewing the North Carolina system as a starting-point
upon which to build, refine, and enhance. A number of other participating states have experience working on
early learning assessments; for example, four are now piloting KEAs and three have mandated K-3 literacy
assessments. In addition, several of the Consortium states are participating in work related to formative
assessment with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness
for College and Careers (PARCC).
Relies on stakeholder engagement. Notably, all of the Consortium states have convened statewide planning
and/or working groups of leaders and other citizens concerned with early learning that are focusing on KEAs and
early learning assessments. This project will utilize the collective knowledge, expertise, and experience of all
Consortium states to design a stakeholder engagement process that will build greater buy-in, input and support
across diverse constituencies and will assure that participating states consistently communicate and consult with
important stakeholders within their state regarding key decisions in the assessment development and
enhancement process.

How the Project Is Structured

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the lead agency and fiscal agent for the Consortium, has overall
responsibility for managing the project. All Consortium states will share any relevant assessment resources that they have
developed and will regularly contribute to and review new materials that emerge from the project for example,
standards, examples of evidence of learning to be used in assessments, professional development materials, evaluation
data from KEA pilots, and drafts of the new assessment instrument. To ensure continuity and collaboration, all states have
agreed that at minimum they will participate in one in-person annual Consortium meeting, quarterly webinars, and
bimonthly phone calls. In addition, all states will make concerted efforts to reach out to school administrators, teachers,
families, institutions of higher education, and other concerned groups and individuals in their states in order to build
understanding of and engagement in the K-3 formative assessment approach, and support the assessment development
process.
In addition to the basic work of the Consortium, select states will take on other more specialized roles to help move the
project forward. These activities will include participating in design teams and pilot- and field-testing activities, convening
state experts to review assessment materials, and conducting focus groups and other in-depth forums with parents,
teachers, administrators and other constituencies to explain and develop support for the assessments.
SRI, one of the three research partners for the project, is designing the assessment and technology. Child Trends is
contributing to assessment design and coordinating the work of the Consortium. BUILD is responsible for managing crossstate Consortium meetings, and along with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, both BUILD and Child
Trends will help states with their in-state outreach. BUILD is managing a parallel, related process to identify common Early
Learning and Development standards across the states and to create common, essential standards. This work will be led by
Drs. Sharon Lynn Kagan from Teachers College, Columbia University and Catherine Scott-Little from the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro.